"SVT is actually bigger, staff-wise, than ever before."
(Real meaning: We eliminated the guys who were independent thinkers and combined SVT with Product Development under the firm control of centralized Ford authority.)
"We see SVT growing to about 5 products."
(Real meaning: We will be assigning the SVT name to rebadged versions of our slow-selling brands (Ford 500, Freestyle, etc.) to boost lagging sales of inferior designs.)
"SVT is, and will remain, a Ford-branded product."
(Real meaning: We will milk the SVT name until its worth about as much as the old SVO.")
"The core of every SVT program is its powertrain; second is chassis dynamics."
(Real meaning: The new Cobra will still sell well in spite of the 05 Mustang's live axle suspension. Our customers are too stupid to miss an IRS.)
"The next generation Cobra will be the best one ever."
(Real meaning: We'll be able to manufacture the Cobra on the AAI line and make more money than ever via downgrading its drivetrain to match the GT's.)
"SVT products need to be created as part of a model plan, instead of being developed after the main product line has left the drawing board."
(Real meaning: Now that we've gotten rid of Theodore and Colleti, and we have total control of SVT, we'll let the lower level SVT guys we're keeping know our future plans instead of keeping them in the dark like we used to so we could win points when they struggled to keep up with arbitrary changes.)
"...allow Ford to use SVT as a launghing pad for new performance technologies."
(Real meaning: We'll use the SVT guys to try and make our dreams of electric cars (like the disastorous "Think" project, which had nothing to do with SVT) and fuel cells work. If they fail, it'll be their fault, not ours, and we can achieve strategic cover.)
"SVT will remain a stand-alone operation, at least physically, but the team will now enjoy a direct line of communication to the product development office."
(Real meaning: We have a long term lease on the SVT building, so we can't move them yet, but they report to Tang and me, not independent engineering types like Colleti and Theodore, and there's nothing anyone can do about it now.)
Gotta admit it - the man seems incapable of telling a lie. Must have some Vulcan blood...
Saw the headline referring to the firing of the GT management team, and thought it would be at the AAI plant, not Saleen, given the building backlog for 05 Mustang GT's, which will just get worse when the new convertibles come on line!
Look for similar actions from Ford now that Saleen has shown the way. Face time for Tang in this matter was predicted, and he seems to have subtlely deflected blame away from what is now his SVT to the Saleen group building the SVT-designed GT.
Maybe it was not such a brilliant move to fire the guys who designed/engineered the GT before you'd had a chance to build a few, eh?
In reference to the relocation of Ford's "Chief Creative Officer" to London, take a gander at the new Jaguar SK8. Ugly. Anyone who couldn't make a pretty car out of the grandchild of an XKE is an idiot. Wonder who desgned it...
Just posting here to keep the string updated. Look for firings at AAI now that most of the higher (President - down) Ford corp. office dance seems to be settling down...
Those still waiting for their 05's should consider selling their slots to others and thus profiting from the insanity at Ford. This may well be the only net profit to come from all this!
The headline that ford "raises Mustang production" is misleading, in that this has not yet happened. More accurately, Ford wants/needs to raise production - but hasn't succeeded in doing so yet. The AAI plant's capacity was supposed to be enough for about 3 lines of cars (mustangs, mazda's, and a third car which at one point was speculated to be a volvo). So far, it has proved it can make a sufficient number of 6 cyl mustangs, presumably enough mazdas, and little else. Its vaunted ability to be nimble enough to handle special ordered interiors and flexible manufacturing demands as to product mix has not materializd. With the convertibles now creeping off the lines and GT orders backed up about 3 months worth, promises to "raise production" sound hollow, and certainly don't comprise actuality.
How all this will impact the 07 Cobra one can only imagine.
Seems like SVT is now officially the step-child, and likely to be treated as one.
The headline that ford "raises Mustang production" is misleading, in that this has not yet happened. More accurately, Ford wants/needs to raise production - but hasn't succeeded in doing so yet. The AAI plant's capacity was supposed to be enough for about 3 lines of cars (mustangs, mazda's, and a third car which at one point was speculated to be a volvo). So far, it has proved it can make a sufficient number of 6 cyl mustangs, presumably enough mazdas, and little else. Its vaunted ability to be nimble enough to handle special ordered interiors and flexible manufacturing demands as to product mix has not materializd. With the convertibles now creeping off the lines and GT orders backed up about 3 months worth, promises to "raise production" sound hollow, and certainly don't comprise actuality.
How all this will impact the 07 Cobra one can only imagine.
Seems like SVT is now officially the step-child, and likely to be treated as one.
tripleblack
I also noticed the 07 required virtually NO development. They simply used the 5.4L block with existing technology.
I have further heard that SVT will be rebadging Mazdaspeed parts for the Fuzion, and EuroFord parts for the Focus - HMMMMM. Think that's why Coletti left?
__________________
Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,his upper rooms by injustice,making his countrymen work for nothing...Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?Did not your father have food and drink?He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy,and so all went well...But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain,on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. Jer 22:13, 15-17
I also noticed the 07 required virtually NO development. They simply used the 5.4L block with existing technology.
I have further heard that SVT will be rebadging Mazdaspeed parts for the Fuzion, and EuroFord parts for the Focus - HMMMMM. Think that's why Coletti left?
Coletti was forced out, as was Theodore, as was a long list of Ford exec's, including Pres. and even some Ford family members. The coup is complete and the "world first" internationalist group has the reins of power. Ford is no longer an American company. The U.S. is just one more market in a world full of more "sophisticated" markets...
Look for the design work to come from the "new creative center" Mays is setting (re-setting) up in London. Look for engineering expertise to be borrowed in homogenized form from Volvo, Jaguar, Range Rover, Euro-Ford, Mazda, etc., not nurtured in-house in Detroit. Look for "SVT" versions of everything from econo-boxes to hybrids to mini-vans - but NOT F-150 Lightnings! SVT is now simply another marketing tool to be exploited until it fails to get a rise, then dropped for some new acronym with which to bamboozle the public.
Look for the Shelby name to be utilized to supplement the already fading image of SVT R&D (the GT500 is just the first example of this, and likely to be the only one with real substance to it, assuming that the ailing Shelby survives long enough...).
Having said all this, I must confess to wanting one of the new GT500's. We'll see if there's anything beyond this one last gasp from SVT, but it is still the closest thing to the Mustang we've all been demanding for so long.
Parsing Martens on SVT 
